Supergirl Adventure Comics #405. Rodney, you plonker.

The Black Death. It was very popular a few hundred years ago.

When I say, "popular," I mean it kept coming back, whether people liked it or not.

And so it is that, like the Black Death, we see the return of the feature the world came to know as Supergirl Sunday.

I could claim this is thanks to public demand but I know from emails I received at the time that there is no public demand. I did, however, make an unconscionable error at the time and somehow failed to review Adventure Comics #405. As a man of honour, I feel I owe it to Supergirl to complete the task I set myself all those many moons ago and finally finish off my blog's collection of Supergirl reviews.

Already the grim memories of those earlier posts are flooding back as we're back in the era when, thanks to the villainous Starfire, Supergirl's powers keep disappearing at inconvenient moments.

That, of course, doesn't stop the Maid of Might or Might Not from her pursuit of the one-eyed villainess.

Her quest takes her to Paris where Starfire's out to kill a fashion designer and steal his latest collection.

But first, Supergirl has to deal with Rodney, identical twin brother of Derek, the man who gave her the drug that makes her powers keep cutting out. Derek was killed by Starfire but Starfire's told Rodney that Supergirl did it. Now he's out for revenge.

Happily, Supergirl manages to make Rodney see sense and together they thwart Starfire's plans, as Starfire plunges to her death in a castle moat.

But, wait! What's this? Is that a woman's hand we see emerging from that self-same moat at the tale's end?

This issue has to be distinguished by being possibly the only DC comic ever to feature two brothers who share the names of the brothers in Only Fools and Horses. And, just as in that show, Rodney is indeed a plonker. Just how stupid would you have to be to believe ruthless master-criminal Starfire when she says the Doris Day of heroics is the one responsible for the brutal murder of your brother?

But then he's not the only one who's not that bright. You see, Starfire has a cunning plan. She's going to take advantage of Supergirl's frequent losses of invulnerability, in order to fire a dart laced with more of the drug that originally robbed her of her powers, so she'll permanently lose her invulnerability and then Starfire can kill her. I'm no master-criminal but couldn't Starfire just take advantage of Supergirl's frequent losses of invulnerability by sticking some bullets in her and not bothering with the drug?

In truth, its not a very interesting story, mostly made up of people trying to shoot Supergirl as she keeps ducking. Rodney's a plonker. Starfire's a plonker. A fashion designer gets murdered but no one cares. Starfire looks nice in a bikini. Supergirl wears the long red boots I approve of. Supergirl wears the long red gloves I don't approve of. Supergirl gets to fight a gorilla. Supergirl, "slaps Rodney into unconsciousness." But I don't care. I've fulfilled my duty.

And, you know what? It was only half as bad as having the Black Death, and less dispiriting than sitting through Only Fools and Horses' final days. On top of that I'm now convinced that he who dares wins and that by this time next year I'll be a millionaire.